The Beginning
by Liberty Roth
Summary: Toph plays a trick on Sokka, but it turns out to be more than that. She claims she doesn't know what Sokka looks like  so he lets her trace his face with her hands. Tokka fluff. OOC warning. Eh.


A note from Liberty: This is probably the most OOC story I have ever written. I hate it, but I'm too lazy to finish it. There are no motives around Toph's/Sokka's actions. I'll probably get bothered by it in a couple months and edit it. But so many people have been asking for more Tokka stories, so I've got to obey to the public's wishes.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these wonderful characters. That would be Nickelodeon.

**---**

"Hey, Toph?" Sokka spoke casually as he was picking off what was left of a scab. Now there was just a light pink blob, a faint reminder of the group's last encounter with some Fire Nation soldiers.

Toph scowled as they walked. "What?" she asked, and she sounded annoyed by the questions that Sokka had been asking. Over the past hour she had been hearing thoughts like, 'What color do you think Aang's hair is?' and 'How does Katara attach her hair loopies?'

"Can you tell what we all look like?" he asked her, and flicked part of his scab at nowhere in particular.

"No, but I _can_ tell that you're flicking something at me." Toph said, and her scowl deepened. The lie was for his own good – if she had told him the truth, a flurry of questions would have been shot at her. This way she could just keep it simple, and enjoy the millisecond of silence that followed.

Sokka blushed. "Am not," he muttered, but fell into step behind her. The girl groaned under her breath – more annoying questions. But, in truth, when Sokka walked next to her… she could smell something that wasn't there before. Dirt. Was that salt? He also definitely carried the odor of the meat he had cooked himself for breakfast. "So how can you tell us apart?"

"Uhhh," Toph answered, and then quickly searched her mind for an answer. "Your footsteps."

Sokka scratched the side of his nose, "So what do my footsteps sound like compared to my sister's? Or Aang's?"

"Katara walks like a girl. Light. I can say the same thing about Aang's, though," she snorted. "His are all… floaty. He uses air with each movement. It's quieter than yours are."

The Water Tribe boy considered this, and tightened his ponytail. "Are you saying I walk _loudly_?"

"_Yeah_," Toph answered, and rolled her milky white eyes. "You trudge through the forest. I can't believe you can actually catch things to eat. They must be a little slow."

Sokka looked offended, and then his eyes narrowed at her. He'd show her. He fell behind her, and concentrated on making his footsteps as quiet and slow as possible.

Of course Toph still knew he was there. "Oh, my! Sokka, where did you go?" she feigned.

Sokka snickered (in his mind, of course, he couldn't let her know that he was still there) and kept walking. Now to pay her back for all of those times he had been woken up with her Earth Bending. He crept behind her, and –

He was flat on his back.

"Toooooph," he groaned, and the pain from falling onto the ground started to settle into his body. "I thought you couldn't see me!"

Toph laughed her loud, not-at-all feminine laugh, and pointed at him. "You're gonna have to do better than that, Ponytail! I could still tell you were there."

She snickered, and Sokka's ears burned with humiliation. "So were you lying about not being able to tell what we look like, too?"

The youngest member of the Bei Fong family started to open her mouth, to say 'yeah', but something stopped her. The urge to do something to Sokka, to get him _again _was just too great. "No," she said sadly, and even threw a sigh in there. "I can't. I only know what my parents look like – and that's only because they let me feel their faces."

Sokka looked at the girl, and his cheeks were on fire at what he was about to suggest. "You can feel mine. If you want."

Toph clasped her hands together dramatically, and even did a little hop. "Oh, really? Sokka, you'd actually _let _me do that?"

"Sure, yeah."

Toph smiled what she thought was her most innocent smile, and walked towards her friend. Her palm was blindly stretched towards him, and it came in contact with the lef side of his face.

Both Sokka and Toph struggled to contain their calm moods. Sokka's cheeks were heated again, and he knew that this time Toph could feel it, for she said, "Your cheeks are warm. Are you blushing?"

"No," he mumbled as her fingers gently glided over the side of his lips. He had no idea she could be so… gentle. He had only seen the stomping, rock-throwing side of Toph. This was… different.

"Yes you are," she whispered, and her thumbs smoothly moved over his dark eyelids. "I can feel it."

_Say something smooth,_ Sokka urged himself. Suddenly his first conversation with Princess Yue came flooding back to him. His opening line had been, 'So, you're a princess!' for crying out loud. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. What was the use, when Toph –

"OW!" The teenage boy yelped, as Toph's finger poked him in the eye. She laughed, and clutched her stomach as she doubled over.

"I can't believe you fell for it, Ponytail!" she laughed, and fell onto the ground. "That was the funniest thing I've ever not seen!"

Sokka's jaw was hanging open. He had been humiliated. By a girl he had just thought about saying something _smooth _to!

"You know what I look like?" he spluttered out.

"Of course," Toph said simply, like he should have known it all along.

"Prove it," Sokka spat at her, his cheeks and ears still aglow with his humiliation. "What do I look like, then?"

"Well," Toph said, and she stood up. She dusted her pants off, even though she liked a healthy layer of earth. "You have a ponytail. That should have been your first clue – otherwise how would I know you have a ponytail? Your jaw is strong. Your eyes are different from your sister's…. More serious and defined."

Sokka drew in a breath. Toph started lightly tracing over his features, her own pale cheeks suddenly colored by her blush. "Your nose is the youngest thing on you – it doesn't look as manly as the rest of your face does. You're always either… frowning," she mumbled, tracing her dirt-covered finger around the outline of his lips. "Or laughing."

She removed her hand suddenly, as if she had been burned, and then turned towards the road again. "Come on, Ponytail. We're getting left behind."

Sokka had a feeling he would always be left behind in this moment. He numbly started following her, wondering what would come as they traveled.


End file.
